SOCHI, May 6. /TASS/. Moscow needs judicially binding guarantees that the US missile system in Asia does not target Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after the talks of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

North Korea's actions should not be used as a pretext for bolstering military presence in the Asia Pacific region, Lavrov said.

"On our part, we have noted that, despite the unity against North Korea’s missile and nuclear escapades, Russia thinks the attempts to use the situation as a pretext for bolstering military presence in that region are absolutely unjustified and rather dangerous," he said, explaining that he mentioned US military preparations as that country was taking steps disproportionate to the risks coming from the North Korean leadership.

"We confirmed that as with the European segment of the US missile defense, we have been told that it does not target us but our estimates are somewhat different. If all this does not target Russia, we need judicially binding guarantees of the absence of such a target."